EPH. 2: 1-3 5-10-08
THE OLD MAN & THE NEW MAN- OLD NATURE & NEW NATURE
Today I want to bring a few thoughts on the subject of “the old man & the new man, the old nature & the new nature”.
Listen as I read today’s text found in Eph. 2:1-3 1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Until the old man is saved the natural man has no idea what the new man is, and what is meant by the old nature, which is, “the natural born man who is still a natural born sinner” he is still like he’s always been in the past. He’s never been born again.
We’ve all heard the old saying, “a person is not a sinner because he sins, but instead he sins because he’s a sinner”. We are all naturally born that way, we inherited sin from our parents and so on and so on all the way back to Adam and Eve the parents of us all.
Gen 3: 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Did you ever think about it, the very 1st child born of mankind was the very 1st murder? After Adam and Eve sinned and she gave birth to the 1st child ever naturally born, he murdered his brother, Cain murdered Able we have the record of in Gods Word, this Bible we have here is a record Book, it cuts no corners but tells us the way it is, the how we became natural born sinners.
“Sin” is in the Bible 448 times.
In the book of Romans it’s found 37 times.
Listen to what I’m about to give you; it’ll strengthen your faith. I’m going to tell you about “man”. Listen, “6” is mans number, God created man on the “6th” day of creation. Gen. 1: 31.
The 6th book of the N. T. is Romans, are you listening? The word ROMANS” has 6 letters in it, if you’ll look at the word RO-MANS you notice it has the word, “MAN” IN IT. It is the book that tells “man” that he is a sinner and how he became a sinner.
Romans 5: 12* Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
In chapter 6 of this 6th book and in verse 6 you’ll find that the 6th word is “man”
Romans 6 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
“Man” is the 6th word 6 times in the 6th book of the N.T. ‘ROMANS”
LISTEN AS I’LL GIVE THEM TO YOU; Rom. 2: 1 1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
Rom. 2: 3 3And thinkest thou this, O man, -Rom.2:6 6Who will render to every man --ROM. 3: 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
ROM. 5: 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: and then the 6th one is found in Romans 6 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
So Romans is the book that tells man time after time that he is a sinner and it tells us how we became sinners and it tells us about the Only Man that can do anything about it, and that of coarse is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And by the way, there is Only One Man in Heaven at this time. 2nd Tim.2: 5 5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
One again; Rom. 5: 12 tells us how all mankind became sinners Wherefore, as by one man *sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
5: 15-b--For if through the offence of one many be dead, [dead in trespasses and sins] much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation,* but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; *much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners,* so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.*** But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Believe or not but there are actually people even here in the good old U.S.A. that don’t believe their sinners, they feel as though they are above this awful thing called sin, they seem to think that the people who are the sinners are the drunks the prostitutes, the thieves and such like, but we that read and believe the Bible understand that all of us are sinners and we understand why because the Word of God tells us so.
The world is made up of over 6 billion of people. By the year 2040 we will peak at 7.2 billion people, and by 2050 we will be losing 150 million people a year. All sizes, types, shapes, colors.
Before any one can ever be saved they must first understand that their lost and why their lost.
Mankind is a natural born sinner, and must be Supernaturally born again.
THE NATURAL MAN is the lost man.
He does not receive the things of God. He values only what he can see, feel, and count.
1. Things of God seem foolish to him.
2. He has man’s wisdom (knowledge of the things of the world).
3. He is like a man in a foreign country who can’t speak the language.
And the only way the Natural man is Reformed, is he must come to Jesus asking forgiveness of his or her sins.
1. The cross is the only way to change him.
2. He needs to seek God’s wisdom — forget man’s wisdom.
WE READ ABOUT Jesus talking to a man that had religion in John 3: 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
PAUL TELLS US IN: 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Romans 6 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Colossians 3: 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; Once the lost man, the natural man sees and understands his lost condition then he can be saved but not until then, people must hear the Word of God or they will never have any faith in the things of God.
Rom. 10: 17 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And even after he receives Jesus and the free pardon of sin, he needs to be fed regularly with the sincere milk of the Word in order to grow or he’ll always be like a little babe, dear heart a person must start out on his knees as a little baby might do before he can learn to walk.
He is a babe in Christ.
He won’t think like a grown man, like a seasoned Christian.
a. He has the mind of a baby but the strength of a man. He lashes out and tries to destroy.
b. He can be gentle and easy to love. But he requires attention and makes no productive contribution as yet.
2. Some spiritually unlearned are in all of the Churches and act like the babies they are.
There’s babes in Christ that have been saved for many years, but they have not grown any, it may be because of what the Pastor has fed him for years, these dear brothers and sisters need to change their feeding habits and move on to greener pastures.
B. He is fed on milk instead of meat.
He has the principles of Christianity but hasn’t progressed. He has the medicine bottle, but he can’t open it.
The carnal man is very proud of his spiritual knowledge. He is the one who has the answers to all the questions.
Listen, don’t waste your precious time sitting in a church where your not growing, find you a good Bible believing Bible preaching and teaching Church and stay there, don’t continue to be an anemic Christian.
